http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajikistan" title="Tajikistan - Tajikistan

The national anthem in Tajikistan, " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surudi_Milli" title="Surudi Milli - Surudi Milli ", attests to the Perso-Tajik identity, which has seen a large revival, after the breakup of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USSR" title="USSR - USSR . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajik_language" title="Tajik language - Their language is almost identical to that spoken in Afghanistan and Iran, and their cities have Persian names, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dushanbe" title="Dushanbe - Dushanbe , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isfara" title="Isfara - Isfara (Esfarayen), and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolyab" title="Kolyab - Kolyab ( http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/ot_grp8/ot_kulab_20050727.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/ot_grp8/ot_kulab_20050727.html - [4] ).

Some experts even argue that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajiks" title="Tajiks - Tajiks are culturally closer to the Persian original root, as the Iranians to the west have mingled and mixed with the Arabs over the years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan" title="Afghanistan - Afghanistan

Afghans take pride in being close descendants of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan" title="Aryan - Aryans , or to be more precise: Ariana - the Greek pronunciation of the ancient http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avesta" title="Avesta - Avestan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airyanem_Vaejah" title="Airyanem Vaejah - Airyanem Vaejah or the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit - Sanskrit "Aryavarta", Land of the Aryans. Today this Old-Persian, and Avestan expression is preserved in the name of the Afghan national airline, Ariana Airlines. The term 'Ariana Afghanistan' is still popular amongst many people in the country.

Afghanistan was part of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Khorasan" title="Greater Khorasan - Greater Khorasan , and hence was recognized with the name Khorasan (along with regions centered around Merv and Neishabur), which in Pahlavi means "The Eastern Land" (خاور زمین in Persian). ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehkhoda_dictionary" title="Dehkhoda dictionary - Dehkhoda dictionary , p8457)

Afghanistan is where http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkh" title="Balkh - Balkh is located, home of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi" title="Rumi - Rumi , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khajeh_Abdollah_Ansari" title="Khajeh Abdollah Ansari - Khajeh Abdollah Ansari , and where many other notables in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_literature" title="Persian literature - Persian literature came from. The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dari" title="Dari - Dari language of Afghanistan, is a closely related dialect of the Persian language. It is widely spoken in Afghanistan.

At the latest, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasereddin_Shah" title="Nasereddin Shah - Nasereddin Shah lost control of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herat" title="Herat - Herat to the British in 1857.

ززابل به کابل رسید آن زمان
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zabul" title="Zabul - Zabul he arrived to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabul" title="Kabul - Kabul
گرازان و خندان و دل شادمان
Strutting, happy, and mirthful
--- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdowsi" title="Ferdowsi - Ferdowsi in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahnama" title="Shahnama - Shahnama

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkmenistan" title="Turkmenistan - Turkmenistan

Home of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthians" title="Parthians - Parthian Empire ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisa%2C_Turkmenistan" title="Nisa, Turkmenistan - Nysa ). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merv" title="Merv - Merv is also where the half-Persian caliph http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Mamun" title="Al-Mamun - al-Mamun moved his capital to, inorder to move the center of the caliphate away from Arab speaking lands. The city of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashgabat" title="Ashgabat - Eshgh Abad is yet another Persian word meaning "city of love", and like Iran, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan, it was once part of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airyanem_Vaejah" title="Airyanem Vaejah - Airyanem Vaejah .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbekistan" title="Uzbekistan - Uzbekistan

The famous cities of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrasiab" title="Afrasiab - Afrasiab , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukhara" title="Bukhara - Bukhara , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samarkand" title="Samarkand - Samarkand , are located here. Many experts point to these cities as the birthplace of modern Persian language. The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samanid" title="Samanid - Samanids , who claimed inheritance to the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassanid" title="Sassanid - Sassanids , had their capital built here.

ای بخارا شاد باش و دیر زی
Oh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukhara" title="Bukhara - Bukhara ! Joy to you and live long!
شاه زی تو میهمان آید همی
Your King comes to you in ceremony.
--- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudaki" title="Rudaki - Rudaki

Western China

The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang" title="Xinjiang - Xinjiang regions of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China" title="China - China harbored a Persian population and culture. (See p443 of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia_Iranica" title="Encyclopedia Iranica - E.I. for Persian settlements in southwestern China) and also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-China_relations" title="Iran-China relations - Iran-China relations for more links on the historical ties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdistan" title="Kurdistan - Kurdish regions

The Kurdish regions in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq" title="Iraq - Iraq and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey" title="Turkey - Turkey are entwined with the culture and history of that of the rest of Greater Iran. The Kurds and Lurs of Iran are spread out through many provinces, and are thought to also be closely descended from the Aryan tribes of antiquity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardashir_I_of_Persia" title="Ardashir I of Persia - Ardashir I of Persia was born from a Kurdish mother of the Shabankareh tribe of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fars_Province" title="Fars Province - Fars Province .

Northwest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan" title="Pakistan - Pakistan

Many remains of Persian architecture still remain in these areas ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wazir_Khan_Mosque" title="Wazir Khan Mosque - (e.g.) ), and up to 1 million "Eastern Farsi" speakers still exist. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=PK" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=PK - [5]

The scholar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Iqbal" title="Muhammad Iqbal - Muhammad Iqbal of Lahore is considered a heavyweight of contemporary Persian literature.

These regions however are more considered as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persianate" title="Persianate - Persianate lands, rather than directly being associated with Greater Iran.

Parts of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasus" title="Caucasus - Caucasus region

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassanid" title="Sassanid - Sassanid remains can be seen up far north as " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derbent" title="Derbent - Darband ", now in southern Russia (the words http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daghestan" title="Daghestan - Daghestan and darband are both Persian). These parts were mostly annexed by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Russia" title="Imperial Russia - Imperial Russia over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries. yet even today, most of these regions continue to retain their Greater Persian identity, as can be seen in their traditions and customs (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norouz" title="Norouz - Norouz ). For a discussion see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia_Iranica" title="Encyclopedia Iranica - Encyclopedia Iranica 's "Caucasus Iran" article, p.84-96.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan" title="Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan

Separated from Iran in the mid-1800s, by virtue of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulistan_Treaty" title="Gulistan Treaty - Gulistan Treaty and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkmanchai_treaty" title="Turkmanchai treaty - Turkmanchai treaty . The city of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baku" title="Baku - Baku (Bād-kubeh) is another city with an originally Persian name. The word Azerbaijan itself is from the Persian "Azar-Padegan" (Atropatan).

Despite the annexation of this area by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Russia" title="Imperial Russia - Imperial Russia , the main part of Azerbaijan remians inside the modern day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran" title="Iran - Iran .

گزیده هر چه در ایران بزرگان
زآذربایگ&a mp;# 1575;ن و ری و گرگان

All the nobles and greats of Iran,
Choose from Azarbaijan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray%2C_Iran" title="Ray, Iran - Ray , and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgan" title="Gorgan - Gorgan .
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vis_o_Ramin" title="Vis o Ramin - Vis o Ramin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia" title="Armenia - Armenia

Armenia was a province of Greater Persia since the times of the Achaemenid empire. See p.417-483 of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia_Iranica" title="Encyclopedia Iranica - Encyclopedia Iranica for a lengthy discussion on this topic. (see also http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/sup/Persians_Armenia.html" class="external text" title="http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/sup/Persians_Armenia.html - here ). Iran continues to have a sizeable Armenian minority.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakhichevan" title="Nakhichevan - Nakhichevan

Early in antiquity, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narseh_of_Persia" title="Narseh of Persia - Narseh of Persia is known to have had fortifications built here. In later times, some of Persia's literary and intellectual figures from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qajar" title="Qajar - Qajar period have hailed from this region. Also separated from Greater-Iran/Persia in the mid-1800s, by virtue of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulistan_Treaty" title="Gulistan Treaty - Gulistan Treaty and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkmanchai_treaty" title="Turkmanchai treaty - Turkmanchai treaty .

که تا جایگه یافتی نخچوان
Oh Nakhchivan, respect youve attained,
بدین شاه شد بخت پیرت جوان
With this King in luck youll remain.
--- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nizami" title="Nizami - Nizami

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_%28country%29" title="Georgia (country) - Georgia and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossetia" title="Ossetia - Ossetia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_%28country%29" title="Georgia (country) - Georgia , or "Gorjestan" was a Persian Province during http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassanid" title="Sassanid - Sassanid times (particularly starting with Hormozd IV). During the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safavid" title="Safavid - Safavid era, Georgia became so culturally intertwined with Iran that they almost repalced the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qezelbash" title="Qezelbash - Qezelbash in the Safavid courts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_language" title="Persian language - Persian language was even the official administrative language of Georgia in the time of Shah Tahmasb, and Allah-verdi Khan, whom the famous landmark of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_pol" title="33 pol - 33 pol in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isfahan_%28city%29" title="Isfahan (city) - Isfahan is named after, was among the Georgian elite that were involved in the Safavid government. Georgia was again a direct province of Persia from 1629 until 1762 when the Russian influence arrived.

The aforementioned is especially true of "Eastern Georgia". Eastern Georgia historically was attached to the south for support, as opposed to Western Georgia, which looked for help to the North. The city of "Teflis" (now http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tbilisi" title="Tbilisi - Tbilisi ) was Persianized for quite some time. The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qajar" title="Qajar - Qajarid http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbas_Mirza" title="Abbas Mirza - Abbas Mirza spent much time there.

In the end, Persia was unable to challenge Russia in Georgia, and officially gave up claim to Georgia according to the text of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulistan_Treaty" title="Gulistan Treaty - Gulistan Treaty and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkmanchai_treaty" title="Turkmanchai treaty - Turkmanchai treaty . Today, Georgia continues to be Europeanized.

For a lengthy discussion, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia_Iranica" title="Encyclopedia Iranica - Encyclopedia Iranica 's reference on Gorjestan: http://www.iranica.com/articles/v10f5/v10f504a.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.iranica.com/articles/v10f5/v10f504a.html - [6]

Modern-Day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq" title="Iraq - Iraq

This is what used to be the western part of Greater Iran. At times, it also included what is today eastern http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq" title="Iraq - Iraq , as it is where the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassanid" title="Sassanid - Sassanid capital was located ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ctesiphon" title="Ctesiphon - Ctesiphon ). There are still cities in contemporary Iraq where the Persian names of the city are still retained. e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Anbar_Governorate" title="Al Anbar Governorate - al-Anbar . Even after Iraq was Arabized, the Persian presence was still quite recognizeable and dominant at times, as many of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia" title="Shia - Shia 's saints are buried in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Najaf" title="Najaf - Najaf and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karbala" title="Karbala - Karbala . At the latest, the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safavid" title="Safavid - Safavids lost control of these areas to the Ottoman Empire

Turan in Iranian literature

Avesta

In the hymns of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avesta" title="Avesta - Avesta , the adjective Tūrya is attached to various enemies of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrism" title="Zoroastrism - Zoroastrism like Fraŋrasyan (Shahnameh: Afrāsīāb). The word occurs only once in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gathas" title="Gathas - Gathas , but 20 times in the later parts of the Avesta. Apparently there is no ethnic difference between the Tūrya and the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan" title="Aryan - Ārya in the Avesta, both having Iranian names and being related genealogically.

Linguists normally derive the word from the Indo-Iranian root *tūra- "strong, quick". The similarity between the words Tūrya and Türk is considered accidental by most scholars, and it is doubtful whether Tūrya was applied regularly to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkic_people" title="Turkic people - Turkic people before the late http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassanid" title="Sassanid - Sassanid period. However, this is contested by the adherents of the controversial Turanian theory.

Shahnameh

In the Middle Persian epic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahnameh" title="Shahnameh - Shahnameh , the term Tūrān ("land of the Tūrya" like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran" title="Iran - Ērān, Īrān = "land of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan" title="Aryan - Ārya ") refers to the inhabitants of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Asia" title="Central Asia - Central Asia in general, pointing to a time when those areas where inhabited by mostly Iranian nomadic tribes such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythian" title="Scythian - Scythians .

According to the foundation myth given in the Shahnameh, King Farēdōn (= Avestan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thraetaona" title="Thraetaona - Θraētaona ) had three sons, Salm, Tūr and Ēraj, among whom he divided the world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Minor" title="Asia Minor - Asia Minor was given to Salm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Asia" title="Central Asia - Central Asia to Tūr and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran" title="Iran - Iran to Ēraj. The older brothers killed the younger brother, but he was revenged by his grand-son, and the Iranians became the rulers of the world. However, the war continued for generations.

Turan in modern literature

Geography

The word Turan was borrowed by the western languages as a the general word for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Asia" title="Central Asia - Central Asia . Accordingly, the phrase Turan Plain or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turan_Depression" title="Turan Depression - Turan Depression is a geographical term referring to a part of Central Asia.

Linguistics

The term Turanian was formerly used by European (especially http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany" title="Germany - German , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungary" title="Hungary - Hungarian and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovakia" title="Slovakia - Slovak ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnology" title="Ethnology - ethnologists , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics" title="Linguistics - linguists and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism" title="Romanticism - Romantics to designate populations speaking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uralic_languages" title="Uralic languages - Uralic or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altaic_languages" title="Altaic languages - Altaic languages (and the languages themselves).

Even though the linguistic usage of the word Turanian is hardly accepted in the scholarly community anymore, it is still rather vivid outside of the academia, especially in the internet. Thus, there is a wide-spread popular theory, which one may call the Turanian theory, that ascribes a common origin to the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkic_languages" title="Turkic languages - Turkic , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolic_languages" title="Mongolic languages - Mongolic , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugric_languages" title="Ugric languages - Ugric and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_language" title="Sumerian language - Sumerian languages and people, normally including the extinct http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythian_languages" title="Scythian languages - Scythian , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythian_languages" title="Scythian languages - Sarmatian and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_language" title="Median language - Median languages as well (which are classed with the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_languages" title="Iranian languages - Iranian language group ). The proponents of the Turanian theory are rather sceptical of the methodology of traditional http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_linguistics" title="Comparative linguistics - comparative linguistics , which they describe as "Indo-European-centric".

Ideology

Combined with physical anthropology, the concept of the Turanian mentality has a clear racist potential. Thus, the scholar J.W. Clackson described the Turanid or Turanian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race" title="Race - race in the following words ("The Iran and Turan", Anthropological Review 6:22 (1868), p. 286):

"The Turanian is the impersonation of material power. he is the merely muscular man at his maximum of collective development. He is not inherently a savage, but he is radically a barbarian. He does not live from hand to mouth, like a beast, but neither has he in full measure the moral and intellectual endowments of the true man. He can labour and he can accumulate, but he cannot think and aspire like a Caucasian. Of the two grand elements of superior human life, he is more deficient in the sentiments than in the faculties. And of the latter, he is better provided with those which conduce to the acquisition of knowledge than the origination of ideas."

Politics

In the declining days of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire" title="Ottoman Empire - Ottoman Empire , the word Turanian was adopted by some Turkish nationalists to express a pan-Turkic ideology, also called http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turanism" title="Turanism - Turanism . Presently, Turanism forms an important aspect of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology" title="Ideology - ideology of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey" title="Turkey - Turkish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalist_Movement_Party" title="Nationalist Movement Party - Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), whose members are also known as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Wolves" title="Grey Wolves - Grey Wolves .

In recent times, the word Turanian is sometimes used to express a pan- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altaic_languages" title="Altaic languages - Altaic nationalism (theoretically including http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchuria" title="Manchuria - Manchurians and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolia" title="Mongolia - Mongols in addition to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkic_people" title="Turkic people - Turks - and potentially http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan" title="Japan - Japanese and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea" title="Korea - Koreans ), though no political organization seems to have adopted such an ambitious platform.

Fiction

The name "Turan" also appears in the fictional geography of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyborian_Age" title="Hyborian Age - Conan the Barbarian novels .